


Earl Grey and Chamomile

by rewmariewrites



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Adult Edward Elric, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gentle Kissing, Kissing, M/M, POV Roy Mustang, Pining, Post-Canon, Roommates, Surprise Kissing, The whole fic is kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27855050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rewmariewrites/pseuds/rewmariewrites
Summary: Three months, four days, and seventeen hours ago, Edward Elric moved into Roy Mustang’s house.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Comments: 9
Kudos: 175





	Earl Grey and Chamomile

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my drafts half written for over a year and tonight was the night to finish i guess
> 
> edit 23/01/2021 for tone and flow

Three months, four days, and seventeen hours ago, Edward Elric moved into Roy Mustang’s house. 

More specifically, Roy let Edward stay at his house for a number of weeks while Alphonse and Winry went away on their honeymoon. Then Edward just… never left. And Roy never even thought to ask him to. 

Now, this would be a pertinent place to note that this is _not_ a romantic living situation. There are no frantic trysts in the bedroom, no careful caresses in the kitchen, no lingering eye contact as one of them makes their way off to work in the morning. Just two men living together, sharing space in the way that friends do. They’re close companions, and they enjoy each others’ company, and they’ve found comfort in the understanding that the other provides. Their trauma is largely shared, after all - who better to co-habitate with than someone who has the exact same nightmares?

Roy is _very_ clear on how this looks, though. To the public. He and Edward were rarely seen without each other even before Edward moved in and never left, and now that they go home with each other at the end of the night… well, Hawkeye’s rather expressive eyebrows have a multitude of opinions about it. As do the tabloids.

That’s not to say there aren’t any romantic feelings, even if they are solely coming from Roy. Unrequited love is so absolutely uncouth, but Roy learned the hard way, a long time ago, that there's really nothing to be done about it. 

Suffering has always been, and will always be, the name of Roy's game. He's the best at it.

This particular problem - the unfortunate unrequited love one - is under Roy's _strict_ control. He's dealing with it, and he's been able to put it under lock and key. It's honestly much the same process he undertook when he squirreled away his feelings for Maes, and his feelings about his ill-advised dalliance with Olivier Armstrong.

All those feelings are still there, of course. They're present in the back of his mind every day - and likely will be for the rest of his life - but he’s accepted them as things that either will never happen (as with Olivier), or can never happen (as with Maes) and that’s fine. 

It’s fine.

It’s _hard,_ though, with Edward, in a way that it wasn’t with Maes or Olivier. Roy thinks it must have something to do with the way Edward has insinuated himself into every aspect of his life, like he's trying to make a home under Roy's skin. Sometimes Edward is just _there_ , and Roy _wants_ in a way that he hasn’t in a long, long time.

The point is, Roy is entirely aware of the fact that their entire situation looks a little less than platonic. And he supposes it _is_ a little less than platonic, if you look at it from a specific direction.

Like, for instance, the direction that would allow you to see the way in which Roy and Edward are presently seated together on the couch. It's important to note that Roy is stretched out along the length of the sofa, his back against one armrest and his feet nearly touching the other. This information alone wouldn't be particularly interesting, if not for the way Edward was stretched out between Roy's legs, head resting comfortably on Roy's chest. They both have books in their hands, engrossed in their own little worlds. 

There's the soft crackle of wood in the fireplace, accompanied by the silky slide of Edward turning pages every few seconds. Roy has one elbow propped on Edward's shoulder so that he can see his own book, and the other resting loosely by his side in a way that carefully does not touch the man curled in his lap like a cat.

Roy's pages aren't making any noise because he's not turning them. Instead, he's desperately trying to convince himself to not just rest his face in the hopeless mess that is Edward's hair and just… inhale.

With a soft sigh, Edward closes his book. Roy can't see it, but he hears the gentle tap of Edward's fingers against the hard cover.

"Hey," he says. 

Roy waits for him to continue, but when nothing is forthcoming, he replies. "Yes?"

Edward sighs again. It's very dramatic. One of his better sighs this week. "I think I need to try something," he says eventually.

Well, that's not unusual. Most of their evenings are spent discussing alchemical experimentation, after all. 

"By all means, go ahead," Roy replies gently, turning his attention back towards his book, finally turning the page. It's not a good book by any means - it's a terribly dry treatise on the governmental system of Xing - but at this point he'll take anything that might distract him from the way Edward is shifting between his legs.

"Don't freak out, or anything," Edward says. He sounds hesitant, but not enough to worry Roy into thinking that there's an actively life-threatening experiment currently happening in his house. 

It wouldn't be the first time.

Roy hums in thought and replies, "Why would I panic? So long as there's-"

And then Edward is dropping his book on the floor and slithering around in Roy's lap until he can push Roy's book out of the way, and they're facing each other, and - oh, their faces are in _quite_ close proximity now.

Roy sees, in full technicolor detail, the way Ed licks his lips before murmuring, "Just don't worry about it," and sliding his hands around Roy's neck and into his hair.

There's a moment - and absolutely _full_ moment - of slow motion clarity, where Edward is leaning in just slow enough for Roy to get out of the way if he wants to. It's _so torturously slow,_ but even then, Roy is so distracted by his own surprise that he only just remembers to close his eyes when their lips finally touch.

There are no fireworks, like Roy always thought there would be. They aren't high off a rush of adrenaline, or fresh off the crash of battle. There's no immediate clash of teeth, no torturous slide of tongue, no spit-slick mess or hair-tugging urgency.

The kiss is chaste, in comparison to all that. It's a gentle, firm press of the lips, one that coaxes a sweet sort of movement. Roy can almost taste the yearning on their lips: he doesn't know who it belongs to, but he knows if he just _tries_ he'll be able to taste it.

Edward pulls bare inches away, and Roy's tongue darts out to wet his lips. Yearning tastes like Earl Grey and Chamomile - the tea that sits in mugs next to them on the coffee table, half full and still steaming.

Roy comes back to reality and looks at Edward. He can't look anywhere _but_ at Edward - even if his field of vision wasn't entirely occupied by the angel on his lap, Roy wouldn't want to look anywhere else.

They would be making eye contact if Edward wasn't so busy staring at Roy's lips.

"Sorry," Edward murmurs after a moment, "I know I'm crossing an unspoken boundary -"

"Do it again," Roy interrupts.

Edward finally makes eye contact. It's blissful. "What?"

He looks so earnestly confused that Roy has to take a moment and tilt his head backwards to look at the ceiling, unsure if he wants to laugh or cry or vibrate out of his own skin. He only takes that one moment, though, before he stares back into Ed's eyes like he's making a promise.

"Do it again."

There's a hitched breath, then Edward's lips are on his again. 

_Yes._

Edward's hands come up to cradle Roy's face, and Roy's hands come up from where they lay carefully at his sides to sneak under the hem of Edward's shirt, skimming at his sides then grabbing at his waist.

_Yes._

Edward gasps a little at the contact, and Roy takes advantage of the moment, and oh - oh _now_ they're kissing.

_Yes!_

It's still so _sweet,_ at the core of it, like Edward is trying to tell Roy everything he's so uncomfortable saying out loud, and Roy is saying it back in a way that Edward can't misunderstand. It's sweet in the way Edward's nails rake over Roy's scalp - _so gently_ \- and in the way Roy tugs Edward closer until they're flush together from hips to sternum.

Edward looms over Roy like this, straddling Roy's lap and pressed up against him, but Roy cranes his neck and succumbs to the buzzing in his head that screams for the way Edward's lips move against his.

When Edward pulls away, Roy can't help but chase him and press one last desperate kiss to Edward's lips before he's just barely, tantalizingly, out of reach.

"Should we talk about this?" Roy sees Edward's mouth move, but it takes him a moment to register the words.

"Probably," is all he can manage in reply. He sounds _wrecked,_ even to his own ears.

Edward blushes hard, but shifts lightly on Roy's lap and leans in like he can't help himself. He says something, but Roy doesn't catch it over the way he _tingles_ when he notices how Edward's blush sweeps over the freckles on his nose.

"What?" Roy manages, eloquently.

"I said, when?" Edward repeats, a little smirk on his face. It doesn't feel quite the same as it usually does, though. Edward's expression is too open, too nervous and kiss-drunk.

"I would suggest later," Roy murmurs, reaching up again to kiss gently at the edge of Edward's jaw.

"I - ah - I'm not sleeping with you tonight," Edward stutters. His hands clench where they're still in Roy's hair, and he drops his head to rest his forehead against Roy's.

"Of course, whatever you want, however you're comfortable," Roy whispers. He presses a soft, reassuring kiss against Edward's mouth. 

Then another. 

And another, and another, and another, until Edward is kissing back and Roy can't _think_ except to greedily inhale when they break apart for just a _moment_ to breathe. He barely registers a clatter of something against the floor, and it must have been him knocking the pencil from Edward's bun because his hands are full of hair so _soft_ and -

Edward pulls away for a moment. He just - he just _looks_ at Roy, and he grins, and he's the happiest Roy has ever seen him. They're surrounded by a golden halo of hair, and looking at Edward is like looking at the _sun._ Roy grabs onto Edward's hips to ground himself, and the way it makes Edward gasp -

When they crash together again it's with smiles on their faces, hands in each other's hair, still tasting of Earl Grey and Chamomile.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't go on Tumblr anymore but feel free to @ me in the comments I read them all


End file.
